


A different kind of curse

by Verse



Category: Until Dawn (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Gen, Monster - Freeform, friendos before radios, hannah and chris becoming bros, hannah lives and things hurt less, mentions of cannibalism, no wendigowak, that ship wasn't planned but oh well, uuuh, what is this
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-09-12
Updated: 2015-09-18
Packaged: 2018-04-20 10:36:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 6,266
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4784234
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Verse/pseuds/Verse
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which a slightly different kind of curse dwells in the mine, someone was born fifty years too early, fourteen miners were rescued quickly enough but two others vanished, and the consequences it had on Hannah Washington's life.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Hannah

**Author's Note:**

> Let's make a beauty and the Beast au, I said  
> It'll be fun, I said  
> *writes more than a thousand words with little to no connections to the original fairy tale*  
> wELP

 

Sometimes (often) Hannah hates her friends.

Or former friends, she guesses. She isn’t sure, considering she’s as good as dead, and dead people have no friends. Her leg is broken and the cold is a monster constantly bitting down her neck. She wants to believe she’ll survive until someone find her, but Beth’s body laying next to her isn’t leveling up her hopes.

Sometimes, she wonders. What if that prank had never happened? What if she’d been just a little bit smarter? What if Beth hadn’t run after her?

They would have apologized, surely. Beth isn’t -wasn’t- a forgiving person when it came to her sister, and so was Josh. Hannah would have avoided them, for a week- maybe two- but she plainly isn’t a hateful person. Eventually, things would probably have been back to what it used to be.

But these are things that will never happen anymore.

Hannah remembers. The humiliation, the shame, the cold. Her sister’s voice after her, the warmth of her sweater.

The screech.

The run.

The claws getting closer to her sister’s wrist before she decided to let go.

Hannah needs someone to blame, and that _thing_ that pursued her and Beth would have never showed up if they weren’t outside to begin with.

So Hannah hates her friends, and she hates herself

 

* * *

 

She sees the Thing again a week after the fall.

She cannot sleep - _what if she doesn’t wake up what if someone comes and she can’t tell them she’s here_ \- when something jumps in her line of sight with a heavy sound. It’s dark and she can barely see but it’s _huge_ and _dangerous_ and she’s sure it’s what pursued her to the cliff.

“Go away! **Go away**!!” She screams and flails, and the creature freezes -she doesn’t know why, won’t understand either when she’ll ponder about it later- but it freezes and god she’s so _scared she doesn’t want to die_.

“Leave! **Leave me alone**!!”

And surprisingly, it does.

 

* * *

 

It comes back.

There’s a pattern, she notices. At first It only came every few days- now every days. Only at night, never for long, every day getting an inch closer to her.

At first, she yelled at It, and It left- but she gave up when she saw that It always came back anyway. It never did anything, just sit down and later leave.

She doesn’t hate It more than she hates being unable to do anything about it.

 

* * *

 

She doesn’t know when she starts talking to It.

She talks about her life before, her family, her friends, little stories- anything that comes into her mind, really. It’s soothing, like talking to a pet, and it helps her getting her mind away from the twisting hunger and the cold and the general boringness of her situation.

And, without her even noticing, slowly, Hannah comes to accept Beth’s death.

 

* * *

 

She wakes up to something heavy being dropped on her laps.

The Thing -she really needs a better name for It- that dropped it quickly backs up, but It’s still relatively close. That’s when she notices that it’s earlier in the night than usual- because she can make up way more things on the Beast’s appearance. It’s furry, for a start. Clear fur and four limbs, two horns and a tail, milky white eyes staring right at her.

She lowers her gaze. Level it up again to stare at the Beast in disbelief. It simply tilts its head, waiting.

She cries tearing off the deer’s flesh.

 

* * *

 

“E..Eth?”

Hannah freezes trying to get up, because that’s the first articulated sound she’d heard from someone other than herself, and because it’s from _It_.

“Be.. e.. Eth?”

The Beast is staring, apparently expecting an answer, but she can’t do anything but gawk like a fish.

It points at her, repeating the name again, head tilted, and if she can’t answer she at least manages to shake her head.

“N… No. I’m Hannah.”

The Beast blinks, unmoving.

“Hannah.”

“A…Na?”

She nods.

“Hannah.”

 

* * *

 

“Hannah?”

Her leg is still weak but it’s at least bearable to walk. She’s spent so long sitting down there, she’s afraid if she stays still any more longer she’ll never be able to walk again. She prefers to walk in circle in a ‘safe’ place and regain her autonomy little by little than lazing around any more.

“I siink.. Thenk.. Theenk…”

It points at itself.

“Chris. Ze name. Ma name. Chris.”

And like this, 'It' becomes 'he'.

 

* * *

 

“Chris?”

She can finally walk decently, and while reluctant to leave Beth behind she thinks it’s time to move on. She’d get lost in these mines on her own, though.

Good thing she won’t be on her own.

“Guide me to the surface.”

 

* * *

 

The sunlight hurts, though Chris doesn’t seem to be indisposed -it’s weird, she’d assumed he'd be considering he only ever move at night- thankfully there is no snow to reflect the light. It gives her a good idea of how long she's spent underground too -four months she thinks, five at most-

She sees the police ribbons, but no footprints, and hears no noises. She only gets why when she reaches her house and sees it closed.

She’s too late.

Everyone is gone.

She screams, flails, kicks -she was so close, _so close_ , if only her leg had healed earlier, _if only_ she’d tried to come out before it was fully healed-

And when she finally falls on her knees with tears in her eyes, she feels strong arms cradling her against a furry chest. 

 

* * *

 

She wakes up with a roof above her head, but it’s not any she knows.

A little exploring teaches her that she’s in the old sanatorium, and dear god it’s creepy, with the rats and wolves and old dried blood- almost creepier than the mines, frankly.

But she can live here, until someone comes up.

 

* * *

 

She finds guns and bullets, worn out clothes and blankets, but above all, she finds papers.

Oh, the papers in themselves don’t interest her- what’s written on them, though, does.

She learns things, little by little. There was a cave-in, fifty years ago. Miners were trapped, then most of them rescued. A few were already dead, sadly, and two of them were never found- their name were John and

_Chris._

 

* * *

 

“Hey,” she asks the beast when he’s back from his hunt. “Do you know these persons?” She shows him photos. He stares blankly, apparently unable to make anything up.

“Do you remember how you ended up in the mines?” She tries again. He doesn’t answer right away, but she can tell in the small shift in his features than he knows that.

“Loud. Twas loud. Scard. Hurt. Ungry. Thomeone else with meh I think? Ungry. Ate them. No more Scared.”

Part of her want to throw up, to run, to be as far as possible from him as she can. Part of her realize that had he not taken a liking of her for whatever reason, she’d have been in the very same situation- except with a sibling instead of a coworker.

So she just hugs him.

 

* * *

 

Chris is changing.

It’s subtle, so she isn’t sure if she’s not just imagining it at first, but she could swear that his horns are becoming shorter each days, along with his tail. He stands more often on two than on four now. His eyes turned from white to a clear sky blue. And his fur appears less thick.

She's sure it’s happening though, when he comes to her wearing her broken forgotten glasses, clothes, and complaining about the cold.

 

* * *

 

She found a map of the surroundings.

There are few things here she doesn’t know already -the mines, her house, the shack- but it also reminds her of the radio tower - _god, how could she have forgotten about it, she’s really the worse-_

But as much as she wants to climb and look for a radio, she finds herself hesitating.

Because leaving would mean leaving Chris behind.

Because leaving would mean facing interrogations from the police and friends and family and if she doesn’t lie well enough it could put Chris in danger.

Chris is no human - _not anymore_ \- she knows that. But he’s no beast either. And damn, even if he got her sister killed, even if he almost killed her, he’s still a friend, and she just can’t let him get caught and killed.

Enough of her friends almost killed her already.

 

* * *

 

Eventually, she decides to call, but not right away. She’ll prepare herself first.

She gathers papers and pen, and, little by little, write a believable story that could answer most questions people could ask her.

 

* * *

 

“HANNAH! HANNAH!”

In the end she doesn’t have to use it.

She hasn’t heard Chris being so excited in.. Well, since she’d met him. This is even more confusing considering she can clearly hear sobs in the background.

“There are people! Real people! Two legs! Talkable! Like you! On the mountain!”

He bursts in the room, and the moment she sees what’d been thrown over his shoulder everything is much clearer.

“….Ashley?”

 

* * *

 

Hannah is impressed that Ashley manages to keep it together enough to tell her there’s a maniac in her house and Josh and the others are in danger.

“Chris. You protect Ash. Got it?”

Chris nods, ignoring Ashley’s weak squeak at the suggestion that she’d be safer with a freaking _monster_.

Hannah doesn’t care, though. She trusts Chris.

And she have a brother to save.

 

* * *

 

She doesn’t really understand what she just ran into.

She sees Matt and Emily strapped to chairs, her brother in overall, so many saws just freaking everywhere, but that doesn’t matter. Just like the fact that they were loudly arguing before she broke down the door.

They’re okay.

_They’re okay._

She throws her arms around her brother with a cry.

At last, they’re together again.


	2. Chris

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> how the beast became the beast, and went on his way to become human once more

Chris hates this place.

It’s cold, it’s wet, it’s dark, it’s dangerous, and frankly he could get paid more. And that’s only down the mines. On the surface, it’s the exact same, but there is a super creepy sanatorium as a bonus.

He hates it to guts. But his parents and brother and himself need to eat somehow, so he doesn’t complain and just keep working.

 

* * *

 

He feels like he’d been trampled by one of the damned deers on the surface, but he can’t help but which it was what’d happened when he realize what truly occurred.

There was a cave-in.

“Dave? Jake? John? Anyone?!” 

He screams in the dark until his voice becomes hoarse, running, tripping, pounding on whatever wall he can find.

He screams, but he never get an answer.

 

* * *

 

He discovers quickly enough that he isn’t alone.

He doesn’t know whose body it is -he wore glasses, so he’d bet on Jake or John- He takes his clothes anyway. Dead bodies don’t care about the cold, and _fuck_ , he doesn’t want to become one.

 

* * *

 

He tries to dig his way out.

It’s not easy - he’s not even sure he’s digging toward the right way.- When he takes breaks it feels like his fingers rubbed against sandpaper and his nails almost got torn off.

He keeps going anyway. _Fuck_ , he’s going to survive this.

 

* * *

 

He’s getting weaker.

He’s not stupid. He knows why. His hands shakes as he moves the rocks, and his stomach feels like it’s twisting inside. He will never make it if he doesn’t eat something.

He apologizes as much as he can with what little voice he has left. The only thing he hasn’t taken away from his coworker are the bones. But he will survive. He _will_ survive.

 

* * *

 

Digging is easier.

Everything is fuzzy in his head, but he thinks he’s close to the other side -he can hear voices, when he stop breathing- The cold is less present now. He got rid of one of the coat -useless- andd tore it to shred with his teeth. There’s nothing left on John/Jake for him to eat. The hunger is back, messing with his thoughts and memories.

He’s sure it’ll get better once he reaches the other side though.

 

* * *

 

It finally manages to break through.

It sees _movements_ first -walking, carrying,jumping- Then it hears _voices_ -arguing, gasping,shouting.

The shapes and sounds reminds it of something -something ancient, forgotten, something important. But that funny feeling is quickly drowned by the deafening growls of its stomach.

It braces itself

And _strike._

 

* * *

 

_Hunt._

_Kill._

_Eat._

_Sleep._

**_Rewind._ **

 

* * *

These preys are different. Louder, for a start. On two legs too, but thinner than bears.

It doesn’t care. They’re still prey and it’s still hunting. It pursues them to the cliff. Tries to grab one before they fall.

She lets go.

It would have to hunt again tonight.

 

* * *

 

It finds her again some nights later.

It smells the blood, and jump right in, ready to attack at the slightest movement-

She yells.

It shakes something deep inside it, like a memory locked away. This time, though, its hunger isn’t nearly as powerful as the last time, nearly powerful enough to tone the screams down and just let it attack.

For the first time in forever, it doesn’t know what to do.

It flees.

 

* * *

 

It comes back again.

It doesn’t know what to make of her - _prey_ \- - _equal_ \- - _kill her_ \- - _don’t hurt her_ \- Its mind keep coming back to her, the two legged thing that reminds it of something it can’t put it’s finger on. It’s the first time it had a proper thought unrelated to food in _ages_.

It doesn’t really understand. But it wants to.

 

* * *

 

It likes the sound of her voice.

It’s soothing, so different from her first screams. She sounds way more at peace like this. It likes that. It surprises even it, but the total indifference it felt toward her pain and sadness is gone, replaced by a newfound empathy.

It doesn’t understand what she says yet, but it’s okay with that.

 

* * *

 

It comes back to it, slowly. Words. Sounds. Meanings. Communication.

“E… Eth?”

It hadn’t used its voice for anything but screeches meant to make its preys move in years. Making an articulated sound, yet alone the one it wants to, is extremely hard.

“Be.. e.. Eth?”

What blows its mind the most though, aren’t the words or what they’re supposed to convey- but the very concept of _identity_ and _name_ it managed to grasp.

 

* * *

 

“Hannah?”

Identity and name. Name and identity.

“I siink.. Thenk.. Theenk…”

It’s faint, its old, but it remembers. _He_ remembers.

“Chris. Ze name. Ma name. Chris.”

 

* * *

 

The trip to the surface is long -Hannah is weak and slow and can’t hold on the walls like he does to take the shortcuts- but they manage, eventually.

Step by step, they make their way to the lodge.

 

* * *

 

He doesn’t know what to do when she’s crying in his arms so she brings her to the Sanatorium.

He doesn’t like the place. It’s messy and a pack of wolves already claimed the place as theirs. Even if he could fend them off, he’d rather avoid to.

Above all, though, it’s a place made by humans, and Hannah was a human.

If there was a place she could be more comfortable in than the mines, it’d be there.

 

* * *

 

She finds a lot of things, there. Things he’d never had any use for -she call them _bullets_ and _guns_ and _blankets_. He’s glad for her, at first. 

Then he sees her kill a deer just as well as he does.

She’s adapting, he realizes. Now that she’s not bound to one place nothing will be able to stop her. She’ll conquer the cold, the hunger, the wolves, anything.

She’s a force not to be reckoned with, he realizes. 

She’s a survivor.

 

* * *

 

He visits her less often, now that he knows she can take care of herself. Every few days, roughly.

He sees the place slowly transform, some junk reduced in pieces to craft other things, others thrown outside, becoming more organized little by little.

He sees her change too. It’s subtle, but he knows it’s here. In the slight shift in her way to walk - _quieter, more assured_ \- in the muscles her arms gained, in the wolves constantly following her - _I don’t know, they just started coming at some point. I didn’t even notice them until you pointed it out._ -

She’d tamed the wolves, he thinks. Like she’d tamed him. Unless it was the other way around?

She’s not a killer, he realizes. She won’t survive by annihilating any potential danger on her way, but by taming them, getting them with her, as allies, as friends.

Should anything raise on her way though, she’d destroy it.

 

* * *

 

He likes to explore the mines.

Before, back when his only concern was eating, it was a safe place to sleep. Now, he’s more curious. He looks for forgotten junk and abandoned materials here and there. Then he bring them back to Hannah. Usually, she explains him what it was. If she can, she uses it to craft her own things. 

It feels good to be useful.

 

* * *

 

“Do you know these persons?”

He doesn’t understand what she’s showing him. It’s flat, thin. But it doesn’t move. He can barely make out its shape. What is he supposed to know?

“Do you remember how you ended up in the mines?”

_That_ he can answer.

The memories are a bit fuzzy -it’s old, and he wasn’t in a great state of mind at the time- but he managed to recall the short story.

It’s the first time he tries to remember something from his past.

 

* * *

 

His sight is changing.

He can still see movements- nothing new here. But behind that, he can make out… Shapes. And colors.

But _damn_ it’s blurry.

He manages to fix it during one of his mine expeditions, when he comes back to where he found Hannah and step on two oval glass. They’re broken, obviously, but when he looks through them, everything seems clearer.

He keeps them.

 

* * *

 

The cold is sharper.

Winter is coming, after all- it sounds logical. Still, he had’t felt the cold in decades- he doesn’t know how to deal with it.

He borrows a jacket and pants from one of Hannah’s drawer. He has troubles putting them on, but eventually manages.

It’s much warmer now.

 

* * *

 

He’s hunting when he catches the sight of something weird.

Something on two legs, but thinner than a bear. Something similar to what he’d pursued to the cliff. Something similar to what he’d found when he dug his way out of the cave-in.

A human.

The stranger gasps as he jumps beside her, but that doesn’t stop him from grabbing her and throwing her over his shoulder. Her fists meet his back painfully, and her shouts become louder, but he doesn’t care.

He sprints to the Sanatorium.

“HANNAH! HANNAH!”

She won’t believe her eyes.


	3. Sam

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sam learns to live with a friend she thought was dead and a tiger

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have many regrets

 

Sam had never really been a very emotional person.

Oh, don’t get it wrong. She _does_ have feelings. She can be angry or sad or scared just like anyone else. It’s, however, never strong enough to actively drive her. While Emily can scream for hours about an annoying teacher or Ashley cries at the end of Disney movies, Sam stays collected, slowly climbing her way out of troubles and pains.

That fateful winter at night at the lodge, though, she truly understands what it means to have your heart ripped off your chest.

 

* * *

 

It’s the _sadness_ that wears her down - _she’s **gone** , her friend, **her best friend** , gone, **forever** , she’ll never **see her again**_ -

It’s the _anger_ that suffocates her - _it’s their fault, these **pricks** , why did they even think it’d be funny, **their fault,** couldn’t they think, **THEIR FAULT** , do they even **care**_ -

But, above all, it’s the _guilt_ that nails her to her bed _-I could have done something, I **could** have prevented that, **what if** I’d been faster, **what if** I’d waited in front of the door for her, what if, **what IF**_

**_But I didn’t_ **

 

* * *

 

She holds herself pretty well, she thinks.

In the span of an hour, she’d been pursued, almost knocked out, learned that the boy she’d always considered her brother had put up that - _horrible, twisted, **fucked up**_ \- prank, and that her very best friend who she’d thought - _lost, **starving** , killed_, _**abandoned**_ \- dead was, in fact, very alive.

Yet, she doesn’t break down. She doesn’t do much of anything, really. Her whole body feels numb, like she’s dreaming. Now that the adrenaline is leaving her veins, everything seems and sounds just _too much_.

So she just watches the scene unfold before her eyes, unable to do anything.

 

* * *

 

Later that night, after everything was said and done and everyone pretend they want to sleep when they know fully well they have too much on their mind to, Hannah says she should go get Ashley. She left her with a friend, she says. 

Before she goes, Sam tries to speak to her for the first time since Hannah showed up.

It all comes back in a second - _the anger, the sadness, the guilt, guilt, overwhelming **guilt**_ \- blocking her voice, tightening her throat, _dammit_ , she wants to at least _say_ something, why did it have to be _now_ -

Hannah steps forward and hugs her.

For the second time in her life, Sam truly _breaks_.

 

* * *

 

She doesn’t care about Hannah’s friend at first - _she’s too tired and numb and overall **done** to_\- She just wants to curl up in bed - _with Hannah, sweet Hannah, **alive** Hannah, who is **not dead** and **not a dream** and might **vanish** if Sam let her go_\- and sleep until noon.

She, in fact, wakes up before noon.

She also fully realizes that _holy shit there is a giant tiger with them._

She freaks out -a little- Freezes and stops breathing and just lets her mind run about where to run where to hide how to take Hannah

But then she remembers- It came back with Hannah and Ash. It’s Hannah’s friend. _Friend_. Hannah is a very trusting person, but she wouldn’t bring here anything dangerous, would she?

No. Hannah is her best friend- she can trust her. She will trust her.

Beside, it’s like a big cat, right? Sam can do cats. 

 

* * *

 

Sam frankly doesn’t know how she got wound up in this situation.

Okay, that was a lie.

Despite that selfish want to keep Hannah for herself, Sam is perfectly aware that she has other people to rebound with as well. Mainly, her brother.

Sam loves Josh. She truly does. But no matter how hard she tries, she can’t completely forgive him for what he’d done yet.

Sure, she’ll support him -always had, always will- and she will forgive him, eventually. For now though, she’d like to keep her distances when she can, when she’s not the only one able to help.

Hannah probably sensed it -either she’s more perceptive than she remembers or she’s pretty unsubtle-

That’s probably why she asked her to bath the tiger -no, _Chris_

She can do it. Really big cat, remember?

 

* * *

 

“Soo… You’re Sam?”

She do _not_ expect the cat to talk. And makes it known.

“T’s hard, but I can. Hannah taught me. Sorta.”

That… Doesn’t make sense. At all. The whole situation doesn’t make any pound of sense and at this point everyone is too awkward to point it out. Except Mike and Jess. Not having the hell of the night the rest of them had helps, she guesses. Not that there is anybody to listen to them anyway.

“You’re Hannah’s friend?”

Well, she _was_. She hopes she still is. A year is a long time for people to stay completely cut from one another, after all. Hannah has changed -she’s sharper, scarred, more confident- and she probably has, too.

She answers yes, though, if only to make it easier.

“That’s good. I’m her friend. But I’m not good. For her. I mean. She’s human. She needs humans. Like you! You know? Talkatable and not tripping over words and knowing all the human stuff.”

“Take care of her, okay?”

At these words Sam immediate knows she can trust the cat- no, Chris. She doesn’t know the story - _doesn’t know how Hannah made it, doesn’t know what happened during this year, doesn’t know anything but **he’s my friend** and **Beth is dead**_ \- but she knows whatever happened, he was here for her.

“Of course.” She answers, shampooing his fur.

She won’t let anything happen again.

 

* * *

 

Chris, as it turns out, really _is_ a big cat.

His huge body lays across her laps as she combs his fur, untying the knots one by one. She tells him stories, about her and Hannah and Beth and the others. To her surprise, he finish some of them, or chuckles before she reaches funny parts.

“I know some of them. Hannah told me.”

She did?

“Ye. Dunno why. Didn’t understand a lot, back then.”

She‘s a bit confused, truth to be told. But deeper down, she’s glad she thoght about them as much as they thought about her.

 

* * *

 

Hannah asks her to go with her to the Sanatorium.

She wants to organize some things, she says. Make sure she didn’t leave anything important. Sees the wolves again, too. Whatever that means.

Turns out she means it in a literal sense.

That’s when Sam fully realizes how much Hannah has changed; she’s sharper, more precise. She shows her around, talking casually about how she lived here, giving more sense to the scars and muscles Sam had caught glances of here and there.

And yet, that’s still her Hannah.

 

* * *

 

That’s when Hannah tells her the whole story, too.

She’s the only one she’d ever tell that. The others would have to do with bit and pieces of truth here, meaningless remarks there, and connect the dots themselves. Sam is the only one Hannah tells everything to -what happened, how she felt, what she did, how, why.

She’s horrified beyond belief - _this is so much worse than what she’d imagined. Starving, lost, alone, with **something** after her_\- how is Hannah even alive?

Sam hugs Hannah, because she now knows just how lucky she is that she came back alive.

 

* * *

 

“You don’t hate Chris?”

“No, of course not. He’s my friend. I wouldn’t be here if not for him.”

“But he's the reason Beth is dead.”

“Sam, who among us isn't part of why Beth died?”

 

* * *

 

Time passes.

The general awkwardness lifts, slowly- Emily still only speaks to a selected few, Matt barely start to speak to Josh again, but it’s still progress- Sam herself hangs out with Josh more often now -he’s still a friend, still family. 

In brief, life goes by the lodge. When it’s time for them to go, things between them are different -always will be, from now on- but she likes to think things has started to heal.

She leave the mountain with a new friend up there and fingers entwined with an old one.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kinda have the feeling that it's not as good as the other chapters (probably bc I didn't know where I was going this time)  
> *shrugs*


	4. Josh

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Josh Washington finally gets closure

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Why do I keep doing this to myself

 

Josh had a plan.

He was going to avenge his sisters. He was going to make _them_ feel what they felt.

He was going to get a real closure.

 

* * *

 

Things, it turned out, didn’t go according to the plan.

Or rather, it did. He did made them feel scared, humiliated, _panicked_. He did pull off all his tricks with minimum unexpected events -though, he wouldn’t leave scissors with Emily around and stressed again.

He just didn’t avenge his sisters

Because Hannah was never dead in the first place.

He doesn’t think about before much, much later though- when his sister’s arms are around him the world around cease completely to exist. Nothing matters anymore, nor his prank, nor his friends, nothing. Only one thing does.

_She’s alive._

 

* * *

 

They hate him. All of them. He knows it.

Emily and Matt hates him for obvious reasons. Ashley hates him for the stress from having to wander outside alone at night to get her bag- and late having to make her way to the radio tower on her own. Sam hates him for the humiliation and the fear he caused. Mike and Jess hates him for what he did to the others. 

Hannah hates him for not having stopped that stupid prank and saved Beth.

He doesn’t blame them, though.

After all, he hates himself too.

 

* * *

 

Sam and Hannah are out.

He’s even more lonely than usual, because if they hate him, at least they still _talk_ to him. Now he’s all alone in his room, with nothing but his mind to entertain him.

And even with his meds, his mind is a very dangerous thing.

He doesn’t react when Chris sneaks into his room. Initially, he’d thought the giant beast was another hallucination, but he was just too different - too _quiet_ and _caring_ \- from these he usually had to be.

“Why are you here?”

The beast shrug, laying at his side.

“Wantd check up on you.”

Why?

“Hannah cares bout you. I cares about Hannah. So I care about you.”

Lies. Hannah doesn’t care. Hannah only cares because of some family-obligation-fueled-with-pity. He knows it. He can feel it. But can he blame her? He was a wreck. A mess. A failu-

“She told me, you know. About the time she was sad and you. Made her a cake. About the time. You fell down a bicycle and she had. To help you walk home. About. The time you pranked her. By putting salt instead of sugar in. Cookies. About the time-”

The list goes on, and on, and on. Little events, some of them he didn’t even remember, all of them pulling the strings on his already tortured heart. 

“She missed you.” Chris concludes, putting his padded paw on the back of his hand.

Perhaps, Josh thinks, perhaps not all of them hate him.

 

* * *

 

Hannah brings him to see Beth.

The way down the mines is long. Hannah seems to be pretty used to the darl, and Chris -here to guide- doesn’t seem bothered either, but himself have to slow down to avoid tripping, even with a flashlight

They make it, though.

The sight of the cross makes all the memories come back to him, of all the good and bad times he had with Beth, his Beth, his _baby sister,_ just like that one day a year ago when he learned that the chances for his sisters to come back were close to none.

This time, though, when he breaks down, there are people here for him.

At last, Josh Washington gets closure.

 

* * *

 

“H-hey, Hannah, Chris... Do you want to watch a movie?”

They both stare at him in surprise. Hannah, because it’s the first time he actually is the one suggesting an activity together. Chris, as he informs the both of them seconds later, because he doesn’t know what a movie is. Hannah explains him on the way to the living room,, where they run into Ashley.

“Hey, Ash.” Josh isn’t sure how to talk to her. They’ve spent so long already avoiding each others. “We’re watching a movie. Wanna join?”

She could refuse. She could desist. She could scream at him. She could hurt him.

She accepts.

It’s a little cramped on the couch, because Chris insists on laying across all of them like the giant cat he is and it forces them to stay close. Hannah and Chris obviously have troubles making out what is on the screen, judging by their squinting eyes -which shouldn’t surprise him, really. Chris is the one wearing Hannah’s glasses.- Ashley is wiggling uncomfortably for a solid half an hour, until she’s caught up enough in the movie to stop caring abuot how awkward everything is.

It’s in no ways perfect. But it’s a start.

 

* * *

 

Josh’s not alright.

He’s sick and broken. He did horrible things to his friends, and he’s not sure if they’ll ever forgive him.

But he’s going to get better.

He’s going to be _okay_.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *prays that i didn't frick up josh's characterization*


	5. Ashley

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Ashley and Chris are study buddies.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> More Chris than Hannah this chapter, sadly.

Ashley cannot think of a moment in her life when she’d been so uncomfortable.

She’d imagined the scene a billion time, what she would do when Hannah came back: she'd apologize, she’d accept it if she didn’t forgive her, she’d get out of her life if she wanted, she’d support her if the opposite case…

But Hannah comes back after a whole year- a year in which both of them have changed. At a moment where Josh isn’t exactly at his strongest, in a house with half a dozen of people who absolutely loathe each others, and with a goddamn pet tiger.

She isn’t proud of it, but she deals with it the same way she deals with most uncomfortable situations.

She avoids all of them.

 

* * *

 

She can’t avoid them forever.

Or rather, she can. But doing so would cut all ties with her friends, and she doesn’t want that.

She can’t deal with any of them head on, though. She’s too scared to say the wrong thing and destroy everything to.

She should takes baby steps, she thinks.

 

* * *

 

She moves from her room to the living room.

Yeah, it’s not a big change. She just changed where she’d hide herself behind a random book. But there are more people who pass through here. She even strike a conversation with them, sometimes.

It’s also one step closer to Hannah’s room. One step closer to Josh’s room.

It’s small. But it’s a step.

 

* * *

 

Chris is here.

She didn’t notice it at first -it’s silent, only sitting in a corner and staring. But as it got closer little by little, she did.

It’s creeping closer, the sneaky little thing.

An hour pass. Two. Nothing happens, beside her gaze often flickering away from the printed words to check where the beast is now. Eventually, it reaches the couch she’s sitting on -a bit too close for comfort, but she can do with it for now.

“I know ydon’t like me.” She shouldn’t be so surprised to hear it speak. She’d heard it talk before. But no matter how hard she tries, she can’t remember a moment where it spoke to somebody that wasn’t Hannah.

“But cne you teach me?”

…Teach it… What?

“Can you teach me to read?”

 

* * *

 

It’s not that Ashley doesn’t _like_ Chris- it’s that she can’t help but notice. Notice and remember.

Notice the claws, the teeth, that could so easily tear her apart.

Notice the fur, the humanoid body, how it just looks like something that _shouldn’t exist._

Remember the cold, the stress, and the sudden flash of something landing next to her, effortlessly shoving her on a shoulder and ignoring her punches as if they were made of foam.

Remember being alone, in this creepy place, surrounded by wolves and with the very same monster that kidnapped her supposed to protect her.

It’s not that she doesn’t like Chris. It’s that she’s _terrified_.

But it- _he_ \- is Hannah’s friend. So she’ll try, if only for her.

 

* * *

 

“Chris! I need your help, could you-”

They’re in the middle of a study session when she sees Hannah again - _truly_ sees her, not just catch a glimpse of her in the hallway, that is. Chris, who until then was pretty much leaning on Ash’s shoulder due to not being able to distinguish the letters properly when he’s too far, immediately perks up.

“Oh… Hi Ash… Mind if I borrow Chris for a moment?”

Chris doesn’t wait for her approval, jumping off the chair the second Hannah ask for him. Ash can’t do anything but nod, surprised.

No… No, she will not allow it to end here.

“I’M SORRY!”

Hannah is halfway to the door when Ashley suddenly screams this. She turns to look at her, eyes wide. She obviously wasn’t expecting Ash to say anything.

“I’m sorry… for everything. The prank, and avoiding you, and not helping you, and everything.”

Finally. _Finally_ she’d managed to say it.

Hannah only stares in silence. She could reject her, accept her, yell at her, ignore her… Ashley had played the scene a billion time in her head. Whatever Hannah decides, she’ll accept it.

“… Let’s hang out later, okay?”

Ashley feels like a weight was removed from her chest at the implied forgiveness in Hannah’s words.

 

* * *

Chris is not a child.

There is his size, of course -Josh’s father’s clothes fit him perfectly- But above that, there is some sort of wisdom in his eyes, in his words. At times.

At others he can just as easily act like the giant puppy he is.

“Hannah! Hannah!” Chris waves at her from the couch, grinning widely. “Cmere! I wanna show you sumthing!”

It’s Ashley’s cue to leave, she guesses. She doesn’t want to intrude between these two-

Chris flops across her and Hannah’s laps.

Part of her think he should pay more attention about where he lays down. Part of her thinks he did it _on purpose_ to prevent her from leaving.

Nonetheless, she still feels an odd sense of pride listening to him successfully reading his first book out loud.

(She’s not the only one, she thinks, looking at Hannah’s face.)

 

* * *

 

“Hey Ash.” It’s Josh. God, she hasn’t seen him since the end of this mess. He looks tired.

“We’re watching a movie. Wanna join?”

She could refuse. Find an excuse. Run.

She accepts.

It’s another step forward.

 

* * *

 

Ashley’s bonds with the others are gravely damaged -nothing can ever change what she did to Hannah, nothing can ever change what Josh did.-

But she can make them strong again. As strong as they were a year ago, during that day of snow.

Little by little.

Step by steps.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I initially wanted to make a chapter following each characters- but inspiration doesn't like me, it seems. I have ideas for Jess and Emily, but I think I'll have to end the story after them. (Matt, Mike, sorry guys)  
> THOUGH if you guys have ideas of things that could happen with MattnMike, you're welcome to share! If I get enough I could probably add these chapters later.

**Author's Note:**

> Leave a review in passing yo  
> 


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